JULY 15. 1915 



605 



It ilocs not make much diffei-ence whether 

 it is moth-balls, strong- tobacco dust, or 

 foul-smellinij stable manure. 



kaoliang; a new group of grain 

 sorghums. 

 The above is the title of a 64-page bulle- 

 tin, quite well illustrated, from the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. It appears from the 

 summary that there are 27 distinct varieties 

 of kaoliang; and more or less of them have 

 been tested in the United States for a num- 

 ber of years past. The Department also 

 sent me one pound of seed. It was planted 

 June 16, and to-day, the 21st, it is up very 

 nicely. These gi*aiu sorghums are tremen- 

 dous growers when the weather is favor- 

 able. We happened to have quite warm 

 weather and warm rains after the seed was 

 planted. The seed is quite a little smaller 

 than that of feterita; but it cooks much 

 quicker — at least the sample sent me did, 

 and it tastes very much like feterita. We 

 copy the following from Mr. Meyer, who 

 was sent by the Department to China to 

 investigate : 



Of the many crops the Chinese grow in North 

 China, the sorghum is unmistakably the most impor- 

 tant and the most useful. Without it life in a great 

 part of North China and Manchuria would be almost 

 impossible, for the variety of uses to which the kao- 

 liang is put are legion, and it could not very well 

 be replaced by any other single crop. 



The light-colored varieties are ground into flour, 

 out of which cakes are made, or they are simply 

 boiled in water and served in the form of a gruel to 

 the Chinese laborers, and it is amazing to see how 

 much a Chinese can eat of it. I have seen my own 

 interpreter eat three big bowlfuls for breakfast in 

 the early morning and still feel comfortable. As a 

 feed for horses and mules one certainly can say that 

 the kaoliang seeds, especially the dark-colored ones, 

 in North China and Manchuria, take the same place 

 that oats do with us. 



The stalks of kaoliang are almost as valuable to 

 the Chinese as the grain itself. In the semiarid 

 north, where all of the wild arboreal vegetation has 

 either been exterminated, or at least has been re- 

 duced to such an extent as not to form an important 

 item any longer, one finds that the stalks are the 

 chief supply of fuel. They are used to cook the 

 food, to heat the brick bedsteads in winter time, to 

 boil the water for tea; in fact, are used whenever 

 heat is needed. Another important role they play is 

 in the fine fencing material they furnish. In North 

 China, in winter lime, the icy wind blows with great 

 violence all over the plains. To protect themselves, 

 at the approach of the cold season the Chinese build 

 fences around their houses, yards, pigpens, etc., and 

 comfort would certainly be still more reduced in 

 North China if these kaoliang-stem windbreaks were 

 unobtainable. 



These stalks are used also as supports for plants 

 in the vegetable gardens. They serve as poles for 

 beans, cucumbers, and yams. They also lend them- 

 selves to basket and matting making, and in Shan- 

 tung I even observed highly colored varieties that 

 were grown for the express purpose of furnishing 

 fancy basket and matting materials. In making 

 tho finer qualities of baskets the outer skin only is 

 used, being split off by hand and woven into the 

 various articles deeired by skilled men and women. 



For large coarse baskets, however, the whole stems 

 iire taken whiU> they are still fresh, for when once 

 dry they cannot be manipulated very well. 



Still another use the Chinese have for these stems 

 is to chop them up, mix them with a few handluls 

 of boiled black-soy beans, or kaoliang seeds, or bean 

 cake, and serve them to their hard-working horses, 

 mules, and donkeys — in the greater part of North 

 China about the only food the draft animals ever get. 



One would think by this time that the list of uses 

 for the stems was pretty nearly exhausted, but there 

 are still a few more; for instance, when an ordinary 

 Chinese laborer builds himself a home he first erects 

 a frame of poplar and willow poles ; between these 

 he places kaoliang steins. The whole frame is then 

 smeared over with mud. in which chopped-up straw 

 or hair has been mixed, and the house is then ready 

 to move into. In the primitive greenhouses of the 

 Chinese these sorghum stems serve as bars to hold 

 the paper windows. They also constitute the frame 

 of the roof upon which the clay is smeared. 



There are several minor uses yet for those stems, 

 such as frames for kites, paper animals, playthings 

 for children, etc., but I am afraid that the list 

 would be too long to add here. 



A last item about the kaoliang: Even the roots are 

 not allowed to stay in the ground, but are carefully 

 grubbed out by a stroke of a peculiar hoe or grub 

 and a pull with one hand, are dried, stacked up in 

 bundles, and sold and used all over the land for 

 fuel. One certainly might ask, what would the 

 farmer of North China do if he had no kaoliang to 

 fall back upon ? 



My impression is just now that, as fete- 

 rita has a much larger grain, and is a much 

 greater yielder, it will be found more prof- 

 itable. But it may be that kaoliang is going 

 to be supei'ior as a food product. Below 

 is a report from our friend Mr. Harrison, 

 just at hand : 



Friend Bool: — I am sending you four heads of 

 feterita, one each of Egyptian wheat, and chicken 

 corn. Your garden is looking fine. Some feterita 

 planted since you went away is 4 ft. tall. Wesley 

 also planted some sweet corn that was given me, 

 that is beginning to tassel and silk. It is about 4 

 ft. high. Everything is looking correspondingly well. 

 Tlie chickens like the feterita better than corn. The 

 birds like it also. 



Bradentown, Fla., June 16. C. L. Harrison. 



The feterita that was planted after I left 

 must have made a growth of four feet in 

 a little over forty days. The fact that 

 chickens prefer it to corn is also in its fa- 

 vor. I have instructed Wesley to gather the 

 heads and give them to the chickens every 

 day. As the feterita is close by their yards 

 it Avill make a very short cut from producer 

 to consumer; and, if I am correct, if the 

 heads are cut off as fast as tli«y are fit for 

 food, new heads will keep coming right 

 along from the suckers. The Egyptian 

 wheat and chicken corn also resemble fe- 

 terita, but the grains are very much small- 

 er. The chicken corn is, no doubt, a splen- 

 did feed for small chickens. 



Later. — I have just received word from 

 Wesley that he has been feeding feterita to 

 the chickens for the past two weeks; and 

 he says there will soon be a second crop 

 grown from the numerous suckers. 



